More about the New Project

["rthorm" <rthorm@cornellbox.com>]

This is a general reply to everyone's comments thus far.

For now, I'm still calling it DragonQuest.  I may need to come up with
a change later on, but the name refers to what it is, so for now I'll
stick with it.  I should probably add an identifier to differentiate
this from other versions and projects.  

This isn't entirely a new idea, either.  I'd say that the New Zealand
campaign has effectively done this some time ago.  So there are a
couple different versions of DragonQuest out there already.  And the
New Zealand group has heavily modified a lot of the rules as well.

David points out the time factor.  Certainly an issue, but not
insurmountable.  Especially since the project is to reverse engineer
something that is existing, and where we are able to examine the
'source code.'  I wrote up my draft of Monetary Matters in just a
couple of hours.  Re-explaining things shouldn't be all that hard. 
Look at what Edi did with the weapons tables.  If there's a section of
the rules that you're passionate about, write it up and add it to the mix.

While we could (and may still at some point in the future) change the
names of the stats, if you are refering to 'strength,' there are only
so many things that you can reasonably call it.  Renaming it to
'Buffalo Points' is both confusing to existing players and mislabeling
what the stat really refers to.  Strength is strength.  As it is, PS
is named differently from the STR stat used by the Lake Geneva
Behemoth.  But I think it is fair to keep the term PS, but rewrite the
description in different words.

Stephen suggested:
  "FoEx in magic don't write the specific spells, create the
  mechanics for creating new ones and how they're used/resolved.
  THEN, using those rules, "duplicate" the Colleges in the Book.
  Thus providing both the appropriate colleges and an example of
  how build new ones if someone wants to."

This already exists in Arcane Wisdom.  See 92. MAGICAL RESEARCH AND
SPELL CONSTRUCTION.  Personally, I don't care for it.  And though I
haven't gone through and checked, I believe that many spells in the
existing colleges don't work out when you run their numbers through
this system.

Another point to consider is that other players may want to swap in
entire new magic systems.  A few months ago there was some discussion
of a campaign of orcs, based on someone's novels, which had a
different magic system.  I think that one of DQ's attractions is its
modularity, and I want to make this version even more so; so that if a
GM wants to run a campaign with different magic, they can write that
system up and go.  

  --Rodger